I’m sincerely pleased to welcome to Moscow my Serbian colleague and friend, Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic. Our talks have been useful and detailed, focusing primarily on OSCE issues in the context of the Serbian Presidency of it in 2015.

We both believe that in the current difficult situation in Europe it is very important to conduct a collective search for ways of enhancing trust and mutual understanding on our continent and the rest of the Euro-Atlantic Region. In this context we emphasised the importance of promoting the Helsinki+40 process and establishing the Group of Wise Men, about which we agreed at the OSCE Ministerial Council in Basel on 4-5 December.

Q: Mr. Lavrov, let’s begin with the crisis in Ukraine. There were rumors that Moscow was ready to host maybe some negotiations. Can you tell us about the latest news?

Sergey Lavrov: Well, there is reason for some cautious optimism, but the news which you just mentioned, about Moscow being ready to host some meeting, is new to me. We have been in agreement with our Ukrainian colleagues, colleagues from the OSCE and the people from Lugansk and Donetsk area. We have been pushing for convening another meeting in Minsk of the contact group, which is very important to make sure that we intensify the implementation of the Minsk protocol signed in September, and that’s what we’re trying to achieve at the moment.

This report was written by a non-state organization ‘The Foundation for the Study of Democracy’ (headed by M. Grigoriev) and the Russian Public Council for International Cooperation and Public Diplomacy (presided by S. Ordzhonikidze) with the assistance

The friendship between India and Russia has a long history dating to the Soviet era and has seen one of the most cordial and productive relationships throughout the post-Cold War period. The long history of diplomatic friendship between India and Russia entered Sixty Seven years in 2014.

On an invitation from the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, the President of Russia arrived in India on an official visit from 10 to 12 December 2014. The relations between the two nations expanded steadily since diplomatic relations were formalized in 1953.

There is a large canvas, perhaps familiar to those who have visited Kolkata's Victoria Memorial, by Vasily Vereshchagin, a large part of whose work embodies the foundations of the India-Russia connection but who has remained largely unknown in this country.

Vereshchagin being relatively unknown in India, especially when compared to his celebrated compatriot Nicholas Roerich, could be because he visited India only twice in the last quarter of the 19th century, while Roerich in the 1930s settled in Kullu in what is now Himachal Pradesh, where his home is now a museum.

"Russia's Vladimir Putin is a brilliant tactician who does not crack under pressure. ...Thank the Lord that Putin has publicly avowed his unswerving dedication to protecting Christianity and Christians". The above is a fairly representative example of the positions currently surfacing in world-policy blogs.

The American Conservative favorably quotes Putin as saying at the Valdai forum: «We can see how many of the Euro-Atlantic countries are actually rejecting their roots, including the Christian values that constitute the basis of Western civilization.

Vladimir Putin had a meeting with Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi in New Delhi. Later, the talks continued in expanded format.

Following the talks, a Joint Statement Druzhba-Dosti: A Vision for Strengthening the Indian-Russian Partnership over the Next Decade was issued. Also, a package of intergovernmental and interdepartmental documents was signed on the sidelines of the visit, including on cooperation in the energy, medicine, investment and humanitarian areas.

Today the US House passed what I consider to be one of the worst pieces of legislation ever. H. Res. 758 was billed as a resolution “strongly condemning the actions of the Russian Federation, under President Vladimir Putin, which has carried out a policy of aggression against neighboring countries aimed at political and economic domination.”

In fact, the bill was 16 pages of war propaganda that should have made even neocons blush, if they were capable of such a thing.

We have conducted in-depth, substantive negotiations on bilateral relations between Russia and the Kingdom of Belgium, and on issues on the international agenda, taking into account Belgium’s chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe over the next six months.

We proceed based on the premise that we share and support the CE’s goals.